Netherlands

Geography

The Netherlands, on the coast of the North Sea,
is twice the size of New Jersey. Part of the great plain of north and west
Europe, the Netherlands has maximum dimensions of 190 by 160 mi (360 by
257 km) and is low and flat except in Limburg in the southeast, where some
hills rise up to 322 m (1056 ft). About half the country's area is below
sea level, making the famous Dutch dikes a requisite for efficient land use. Reclamation of land from the sea through dikes has continued
through recent times. All drainage reaches the North Sea, and the
principal rivers—Rhine, Maas (Meuse), and Schelde—have their
sources outside the country.

Government

Constitutional monarchy.

History

Julius Caesar found the low-lying Netherlands
inhabited by Germanic tribes—the Nervii, Frisii, and Batavi. The
Batavi on the Roman frontier did not submit to Rome's rule until 13
B.C.
, and then only as allies.

The Franks controlled the region from the 4th to
the 8th century, and it became part of Charlemagne's empire in the 8th and
9th centuries. The area later passed into the hands of Burgundy and the
Austrian Hapsburgs and finally, in the 16th century, came under Spanish
rule.

When Philip II of Spain suppressed political
liberties and the growing Protestant movement in the Netherlands, a revolt
led by William of Orange broke out in 1568. Under the Union of Utrecht
(1579), the seven northern provinces became the United Provinces of the
Netherlands. War between the United Provinces and Spain continued into the
17th century but in 1648 Spain finally recognized Dutch independence.

The Dutch East India Company was established in
1602, and by the end of the 17th century, Holland was one of the great sea
and colonial powers of Europe.

The nation's independence was not completely
established until after the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), when the
country's rise as a commercial and maritime power began. In 1688, the
English Parliament invited William of Orange, stadtholder, and his wife,
Mary Stuart, to rule England as William III and Mary II. William then used
the combined resources of England and the Netherlands to wage war on Louis
XIV's France. In 1814, all the provinces of Holland and Belgium were
merged into one kingdom, but in 1830 the southern provinces broke away to
form the kingdom of Belgium. A liberal constitution was adopted by the
Netherlands in 1848. The country remained neutral during World War I.